Various types of clips and mounting methods are used to secure components to structures, such as stiffeners. Contemporary clips and methods are cumbersome and time-consuming. For example, installation often requires drilling through the structure and using fasteners to install the clip, or bracket, to the structure. Drilling through carbon composite structures made of, for example, carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) can present known difficulties and be expensive to drill.
Conventional solutions for installing mounting clips to structures, such as “I” beams, “ZEE” sections, or hat section panel stiffeners, are well-known. These solutions sometimes require engaging a flange of the structure. However, such solutions are not available for straight blade-type structures, owing to the lack of geometry for locking the clip to the structure. Therefore, clips are often attached to blade-style, free-web stiffeners by drilling holes and using through fasteners. An alternative to such approaches is the use of adhesively-installed standoffs and clips, which may not be preferred for permanent usage in some embodiments.